City Tournament's switch to PCCC in 1980 helped bolster event

Wednesday

Jan 22, 2014 at 10:26 PMJan 22, 2014 at 10:26 PM

When the City Tournament tips off tonight, the 66th annual event will have spent exactly half its time in the Prairie Capital Convention Center. The 1980 tournament was the first in the nearly brand-new convention center.

By Ryan MahanStaff Writer

When the City Tournament tips off tonight, the 66th annual event will have spent exactly half its time in the Prairie Capital Convention Center.

The 1980 tournament was the first in the nearly brand-new convention center. The tournament had been played since its inception in 1949 at the Illinois State Armory.

While it had been obvious for some time that the armory's purpose as a basketball gym had seen better days, interim superintendent and then-District 186 athletic coordinator Bob Hill and current school board president Chuck Flamini both remember the decision to move wasn't originally a popular one.

"The leadership of the district was way ahead of the community," Flamini said. "The community that had gone there since they were kids to watch games still liked the old armory."

Hill added, "I'd say that lasted for about four or five years. At the district level, there was some concern about the fact that the community wasn't embracing it."

Ken Grimble, who led 1980 tournament champion Springfield High School in scoring with 38 points in that tournament, played in both the armory and the convention center. He said when the players first stepped inside, it was something akin to a scene out of "Hoosiers."

"When you go into (a high school gym) you always see the walls," said Grimble, who is now an archbishop with the International Covenant Communion of Kingdom Heirs Church in Springfield. "When you went into the (PCCC), it gave you that professional look, like you were in a big-time college atmosphere.

"There were no walls. All you could see was people surrounding you. It was like you were on a stage."

First tourney

Of all the tournaments held at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield High's win that first year was definitely memorable.

The Senators came into the 1980 event with a 4-9 record and the No. 3 seed. Up to that point, the last team to win the City Tournament title outright while seeded third or lower had been Griffin in 1966.

On the first day, the Senators had luck on their side down the stretch.

With Springfield leading 50-49, top-seeded Southeast was to inbound the ball with just 7 seconds left on the clock. The Spartans came out of a timeout with six players, the ball was inbounded and an official blew his whistle, calling a technical foul and awarding Springfield the ball.

Grimble missed the technical free throw.

"That's where the crowd comes in. It can overtake you," Grimble said. "Wave enough behind the basket with the see-through (backboards and) it can make a difference."

But the Senators had the ball with 4 seconds left until an over-and-back call gave Southeast one more chance with two ticks of the clock remaining.

The Spartans' desperation heave from about 35 feet missed.

The next day, Springfield High topped No. 1 seed Griffin 59-53. Then the Senators hung on to beat No. 4 Lanphier 49-46 on Saturday.

Big time

Southeast senior Dan Sescleifer, who led the tournament with 55 points that year, remembers the biggest difference from the armory to the convention center.

"It was like going from sail(boats) to steamships," said Sescleifer, who is now a chief financial officer for Energizer. "The armory was a very intimate place; everything was kind of close. When we went to the convention center, it was so big, it had so much space that it was a hard for us to adapt to frankly."

But the environment at the PCCC turned the City Tournament into a better experience.

"It was more like playing in a big-time arena, which was our first experience doing that," Sescleifer said.

Southeast finished the tournament 1-2 but won a Class AA sectional title over top-ranked Quincy in a game still held at the armory. It was the last Southeast team to win a sectional crown.

The 1980 tournament may have signaled the end of the armory as host to the event, but a scheduling conflict forced the City Tournament back to the armory in 1989 and 1990. By then, all the things that had made the armory an antique in the 1970s created concern that it would be unplayable nearly a decade later.

And that was before the elephants nearly crushed the hopes of the tournament personnel.

Unlike the PCCC, the basketball floor was permanent at the armory.

"There had been (a circus) a couple of weeks before and they crushed parts of the floor, the elephants did," Flamini said. "Our staff from the district went over there and saved the day. They pulled all that dried out maple, cleaned it and fixed it."

Great partnership

Bryan Oaks has been the general manager of the Prairie Capital Convention Center since 2007 and has worked there since 2003. He said of all the events that use the PCCC, nothing quite compares to the City Tournament.

"I think it's one of the most, if not the most, electric events we have every year," Oaks said. "There's a ton of history with the amount of history it's been here.

"But it is a true Springfield event. This is one right at the heart of Springfield."

According to accounts in The State Journal-Register from the 1980 City Tournament, the first crowd at the PCCC was estimated to be about 3,500.

The old armory could seat about 4,000 people. But the new facility holds about 7,400 people. So the initial crowd made the place half-empty. Hill said that helped spur the idea for the spirit award — it's now called the Gary Sullivan Spirit Award — helping grow not only the size of the crowds but the noise produced.

Though the PCCC doesn't get sold-out for the City Tournament, the crowds can work upwards of 6,500 people.

Oaks said today's crowds help make the building rock.

"With this building and that many people in it and cheering, it gets loud and it gets a lot of fun," he said.